Xiaomi Note 3 now R1899

[shiverz]

Apparently the cable it ships with doesn't support fast charging although the phone does. Did you order the cable seperate?

According to the forums I read it's the software kernel that doesn't have the drivers to allow QC 2.0 but it does fast charge.

Flashing a rom that supports QC2.0 will allow it. I saw a video on YouTube that showed CM13 I think that did this.

 

[backstreetboy]

Apparently the cable it ships with doesn't support fast charging although the phone does. Did you order the cable seperate?

Unlikely. Xiaomi must pay Qualcomm for it and they don't do it on the low end phones. Only the Mi Max etc. They don't have to pay Mediatek for Pump Express so all MTK phones comes with fast charging.

 

[tridev]

I have no idea. First time I'm doing this and I used PO address. I used PayPal aswell so I feel a bit safer. I'm sure one of the guys here who import on the regular will know...

I just ordered mine through EMS. EMS is door to door. The delivery price worked out to US$45.40. Pretty expensive for 7 to 15 business days.

 

[Beachless]

I ordered a note 4 off banggood. What malware? I'm still waiting for it though. It was supposed to be delivered to a drop shipper in Hong Kong. But they sent it to Germany for some reason

It had a non official rom. All I did was install chrome and go on the web and I started getting weird pop-ups. If you do a search for "vendor rom xiaomi" it seems like most of the phones ordered from China contain these fake Roms and are not safe to use.

It was a bit of a pain to load the new rom I had to try a few guides before getting it right but it's all good now. I wonder how many people use these phones not knowing any better.

 

[MiffMeister]

It had a non official rom. All I did was install chrome and go on the web and I started getting weird pop-ups. If you do a search for "vendor rom xiaomi" it seems like most of the phones ordered from China contain these fake Roms and are not safe to use.

It was a bit of a pain to load the new rom I had to try a few guides before getting it right but it's all good now. I wonder how many people use these phones not knowing any better.

Can't you just flash it through recovery? I've done other xiaomi like that. Copy the official rom to the root folder, rename it as update.zip , then boot the phone to recovery and flash the update.zip

 

[Beachless]

Can't you just flash it through recovery? I've done other xiaomi like that. Copy the official rom to the root folder, rename it as update.zip , then boot the phone to recovery and flash the update.zip

No it doesn't allow you to do that not even the fastboot worked only putting it into EDL worked in the end. But the Note 3 pro has a locked boot loader which may have made things harder.

 

[REAPER]

Hi Guys

I'm interested in buying a phone from one of these Chinese sites - AliExpress, Gearbest, Geekbuying, Bangood, Everbuying etc.

Can you please advise me on which of those sites are trustworthy and sells original phones, that I should buy from.

Thanks

 

[surfs-up]

For those that have bought from gearbest. What is the waiting time if I use DHL?

DHL expedited took 5 days to get my phone to me from China (Gearbest). Time includes customs clearance. But to speed it up you need to track the parcel carefully, and the moment it arrives in RSA, contact DHL and ask them to email you an invoice to pay the duties. Otherwise they will take a few days before they contact you.

 

[surfs-up]

I just ordered mine through EMS. EMS is door to door. The delivery price worked out to US$45.40. Pretty expensive for 7 to 15 business days.

Are you sure they used EMS ? EMS is usually free shipping and they have no RSA courier - they use the SA Post Office, and take 30 - 60 days. $ 45 is a little more than I paid to have my phone DHL expedited to my door - 5 days to get delivered to my front door.

 

[shiverz]

Are you sure they used EMS ? EMS is usually free shipping and they have no RSA courier - they use the SA Post Office, and take 30 - 60 days. $ 45 is a little more than I paid to have my phone DHL expedited to my door - 5 days to get delivered to my front door.

I think he should contact them and make sure. If that's not the case get a refund. 45 dollars is like R600+

 

[Beachless]

EMS is the postal service's to door delivery. So it still goes through SA post but they deliver to your address. Sometimes the Chinese companies send it regular airmail though even if you paid for EMS. And of course you still dealing with SA post so it may still lie there a while. EMS can be a bit of a lucky packet.

 

[Beachless]

Hi Guys

I'm interested in buying a phone from one of these Chinese sites - AliExpress, Gearbest, Geekbuying, Bangood, Everbuying etc.

Can you please advise me on which of those sites are trustworthy and sells original phones, that I should buy from.

Thanks

They are all pretty much the same there are warnings about gearbest selling fakes on a few forums though. AliExpress is a storefront though for many shops and not a single shop like the others so you have to look at the seller reputation before buying. I've been happy with Banggood and AliExpress I haven't bought from the others. From my googling over the weekend most of those shops have fake Roms on the devices though so check that when you get the phone or just put on the latest ROM anyways.

 

[shiverz]

I'm so psyched to get LineageOS on this. I've been out of the custom rom game for like 12 months...

 

[tridev]

Are you sure they used EMS ? EMS is usually free shipping and they have no RSA courier - they use the SA Post Office, and take 30 - 60 days. $ 45 is a little more than I paid to have my phone DHL expedited to my door - 5 days to get delivered to my front door.

Yeah standard airmail which is free and EMS which is door to door.

From the site it is called EMS Express Mail Service

 

[tridev]

I think he should contact them and make sure. If that's not the case get a refund. 45 dollars is like R600+

there are only two options. See below for a two items with total of $10 in value


I checked gearbest and it also has the same two options same price. Gearbest and banggood sites look almost identical.
One thing I noticed is if I put in a shipping address as US it does have an option for DHL and the shipping price is much cheaper.

 

[surfs-up]

there are only two options. See below for a two items with total of $10 in value
View attachment 410092

I checked gearbest and it also has the same two options same price. Gearbest and banggood sites look almost identical.
One thing I noticed is if I put in a shipping address as US it does have an option for DHL and the shipping price is much cheaper.

I have just been to Gearbest.com and added a Xiaomi Note 4 and went to the checkout. There are more than 2 options. When I bought my Xiaomi in November I used the DHL option - here it is here:



As you can see, there are more than 2 shipping options, and there is no mention of EMS expedited. The safest and quickest shipping method is the one selected in the picture - DHL EXPEDITED. My Xiaomi took 5 days to get to me using this method

The shipping quote in the picture is for a Xiaomi phone sent to my registered address in South Africa (not USA), and DHL is clearly listed as an option. I have said it many times before - don't use EMS, insist on DHL.

 

[brucem]

EMS only works if the destination country has an EMS agent. South Africa doesn't so it goes to standard post office service. Sorry but I think you just paid a heap to get the same service as the free shipping!

 

[surfs-up]

EMS only works if the destination country has an EMS agent. South Africa doesn't so it goes to standard post office service. Sorry but I think you just paid a heap to get the same service as the free shipping!

That's what I tried to tell him, when he said it was EMS door to door. Nope, not happening in South Africa. Maybe in Europe EMS is door to door, but in South Africa, it gets handled by the SA Post Office - just like most other stuff you buy off eBay, that gets sent by EMS. It gets gridlocked in the SA Post Office, and will take 30 - 60 days.

If you are buying an expensive item like a cell phone - USE DHL EXPEDITED !!!!

 

[shiverz]

I think he bought it through Geekbuying which didn't have the DHL option.

I've heard that if the phone doesn't have an ICASA sticker it may be withheld at customs. True or False?

 

[Beachless]

Guys I've actually had the EMS van drop stuff off at my home it's better than airmail but still run by SA post so no where near the international EMS services which gets run by their local postal service's.